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Ty's One-Man Band
"Ty's One-Man Band" is Episode 15 in Season 1. It originally aired on July 29, 1983. Synopsis The episode begins with various people disco skating in the park, including LeVar, who almost falls while turning to the viewers. He says, "This isn't as easy as it looks. To be an expert, you have to keep at it. It's still fun, even if you're not. The best part of it is always the music. Sometimes I just love to watch and listen." He watches the skaters while listening to the music. He says he has always loved music: all kinds of it. He says he takes it wherever he goes. He believes that everything in life has a rhythm, and he's sensitive to the ones around him. Today, there's different kinds of music: from birds singing in the trees to musicians playing in the park. LeVar looks around to see what kinds of musicians he can find. He sees and listens to a man playing a song with different instruments and ordinary objects. He asks him what kind of music he's playing. He says he's a one-man band. He has 55 instruments, and they fit on the rack in certain places. LeVar asks if anybody can do it, and he says they can. All it takes is a lot of junk and a lot of work. He has been a one-man band for exactly 12 years. LeVar tells the viewers that those have always been special. LeVar asks, "Who could sit still when there's good music around?" He sure can't, and neither could his friend, Ben Vereen. When he read the title book, it made him want to do a special dance of his own. He does one to the song, "Sounds Like Music to Me". It shows you that there's music everywhere you go. LeVar reinstates that people like Ben can make music with anything from a swing to a bouncing ball to their own bodies. Other people like the vocal group, Fortune, can make beautiful music with just their own voices. They sing a song to show the viewers what LeVar means. Steve Horelick is an up-to-the-minute one-man band who can become a whole orchestra. He is called the Reading Rainbow Music Man because he's the music director of the series. He introduces himself to the viewers after playing a bit of the theme song. He works for the company, Patchworks, where all the music for the show is created. He uses a computer among other equipment to make all the sounds of the orchestra. The computer consists of a piano-type keyboard and a regular computer one like the kind you'd find at school or on your PC at home. He can makes the sound of a saxophone by using the computer to generate it. He can also make that of a violin. On the screen, it shows him what the sound looks like. By studying the sound displays on the computer screen, he can use the information to create new sounds. For example, he generates a sound he made up from scratch that is different than either the violin or saxophone. He states that every sound has its own personality that is unique. Using a light pen, he can redraw the sound wave and make it completely different. he demonstrates how he does that. He can take all the different sounds he created and add some vocalists to end up with a completed piece of music. To show the viewers that, he plays a bit of the theme song. Another thing he can do with the computer is record his own voice and change it any way he wants simply by pressing one of the keys on the piano-type keyboard. He can make from one of his voices to a whole chorus. He also has a sound effects library. He chooses a sound with the pen and plays it on the keyboard. The computer shows the list of sounds on the screen. With everything he can do with the computer, he really is a one-man band. Sound effects are a lot of fun, as well as the words used to describe them. Such words include "clink", "smash", "slam", "hiss", and "creak". Words that sound like what they mean are known as onomatopoeia, such a fun word to say. In fact, Steve is writing a song about that. It contains words such as "pop", "crunch", "fizz", "slurp", and "burp". The animation that goes with it shows a girl in pajamas having a late night snack and making all the sounds in it. LeVar and some others are playing music about this episode's subject. He says that no matter what you play or how you play it, it is certain there is beautiful music deep down inside yourself. The only way to make real music is with your heart. He joins a band and they play their own version of the theme song during the closing credits. Review Books *Making Musical Things *The Amazing Bone *The Bandsa Category:Season 1 Category:Episodes